Please outline your background, education and career, and the main steps that have brought you to your current position.

My name is Aeishwarya Chaudhari, and I am from Mumbai, India. I hold a degree in mechanical engineering and currently lead the mechanical engineering team at Vulcan Energy in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Reaching my current position has involved various factors, but I would like to emphasize a few key elements: passion, perseverance, stepping out of my comfort zone, networking, and immense family support. The latter is particularly crucial, as it often operates behind the scenes. As the saying goes, we

only see the tip of the iceberg, but there is much more beneath the surface.

How large is the team you manage and what are the core skills of the members in it?

At Vulcan, I oversee the Mechanical Engineering Team, manage escalations to meet quality, cost, and schedule targets across all projects. I take on organizational responsibilities, exercise excellent judgment in decision-making, and provide support to colleagues and junior engineers.

My team and I are responsible for creating and reviewing technical requirements, specifications, and services

for mechanical equipment, including pressure vessels, process columns, heat exchangers, storage tanks, etc. Duties involve preparing and reviewing datasheets, specifications, material requisitions, evaluating technical bids, reviewing vendor documents, and coordinating engineering efforts with vendors and other engineering disciplines. Additionally, we provide technical guidance to engineering contractors as required. We are also tasked with finalizing spare parts strategies and selecting the appropriate construction materials through discussions with operations leaders, as well as technology and process experts. We also collaborate with various engineering contractors during the conceptual and basic engineering phases. Given this approach, our team size typically peaks at around 5-6 engineers. This number is expected to increase as we move into the execution phase of the project.

Aeishwarya Chaudhari is Vulcan Energy’ s Head of Mechanical Engineering.

Can you give us a brief description of the Lionheart project and why it is unique? How / where are heat exchangers deployed in this project?

the European battery industry, with a co-product of renewable energy. The project spans the Upper Rhine Valley for upstream and midstream activities, and the Frankfurt region for downstream operations.

Vulcan’ s Phase One Lionheart Project is Europe’ s most advanced integrated sustainable lithium and renewable energy project. I feel fortunate to be part of a team making history in the lithium industry. The integrated lithium and renewable energy project adapt existing, commercially proven technology to produce battery-quality lithium from naturally heated subsurface brine in the Upper Rhine Valley, to deliver a local source of sustainable lithium for

As we know, heat exchangers play a vital role in the chemical and process industry, and their importance is indispensable in this project as well. We plan to use various types of heat exchangers, including shell and tube, plate and frame, and air-cooled heat exchangers, along with falling film evaporators. These will be utilized for several applications, such as cooling industrial water, cooling brine, and evaporation in downstream chemical processes.